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Greetings, I seem to be allowed to post here, so I will offer a few things.

First, what type of Windows XP? Pro/Home? 32bit/64bit?Do you still have the original installation cd if the computer came with one? or did you install the operating system yourself with a cd/dvd that came separately?

If you have the CD/DVD, you're in luck as it's typically the easiest method to resolve this issue. I'll be referencing this page if you feel the need to look further. [ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314477 ]

Insert the cd into the system, depending on your bios/motherboard combination the keys to access the boot menu may be different. So we'll go straight to the bios, as soon as you power on the system tap DEL or F2 in 1 second intervals to load the bios menu.

Once on this menu, you want to look for something that says Boot Settings/Configuration/Order.At this screen you will see your hard drive, CD drive, floppy(if you have one), and any other devices you have installed internally.

Using the +/- keys or arrow keys you'll be able to adjust the boot order, which device loads first. Set it in this order: CD/DVD Drive, SATA(or IDE) Hard Disk, USB, LAN Device, etc.

Save and exit, then reboot, it will ask you to strike a key to load up Windows Setup.

After loading the files needed for the setup, hit R for Recovery Console and select the installation to log into, you'll need the Administrator user/password(sometimes) in order to login.

Suggestion 1 At the recovery console prompt type CHKDSK /r

A CHKDSK /r looks for bad sectors and recovers readable information, it's kind of like a catch all fix it for Booting issues, and some BSOD issues. VERY useful and typically run first.

If that fails or does not resolve the issue, move to Suggestion 2.

Suggestion 2 At the recovery console prompt type the following command, depending on your processor type and hit enter.

For Multi(Dual or more CORE)-Processor systems:expand :\i386\ntkrnlmp.ex_ :\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe

Note In these two commands, the placeholder represents the drive letter of your CD drive, and the placeholder represents the drive letter of the hard disk on which windows is installed.If you receive a prompt to overwrite the file, press Y.Type exit, and press ENTER at the command prompt.

When the Windows installation is located, the following instructions are displayed:Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All)[Type Y in response to this message.]

Enter Load Identifier:[This is the name of the operating system. Type Windows XP Professional or Windows XP Home Edition.]

Enter OS Load options:[Leave this field blank, and then press ENTER.___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Remember, rebooting after each suggested attempt is important, test and retest for full confirmation after a solution is reached. And please, remember to let us know if the issue was resolved.

Additional note-I am not GeekPolice, I'm a new user here, but I have a lot of experience and, matter of fact, I resolved this same issue last week on a friends computer using the rebuild option. I am looking to become a member of GeekPolice, so I hope this helps you out.